Bill Laatz, 63, whose property neighbors the excavation site in Oakland Township, shared this aerial photo of where Anthony "Tony Z" Zerilli says Jimmy Hoffa was buried in Oakland Township. Laatz's property has been in his family since the 1930's.

Officials from the FBI, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and Bloomfield Township Police Department confirmed they were executing a search warrant on private property along Buell Road at Adams Road in hopes of finding Hoffa's body after he disappeared in 1975.

Novi-based attorney David Chasnick came to the Oakland Township site with the Hoffa excavation search warrant to speak for his client Anthony "Tony Z" Zerilli, 85, who was at the site for a short time on Monday afternoon, but left after seeing a swarm of reporters.

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"Mr. Zerilli is thrilled that this has finally come to an end," Chasnick said. "The Hoffa family may finally have some closure ... The Hoffa family may get peace from this from what they discover over in the field."

Chasnick said Zerilli wrote a manuscript -- available for sale at hoffafound.com -- detailing how Hoffa was taken to the area in Oakland Township and buried alive.

The manuscript says that, after Hoffa's disappearance, three local mobsters drove him to what was then an old house and barn on the Buell Road property.

The manuscript states, "As soon as they pulled near the barn, Hoffa was dragged out of the car, bound and gagged. A shallow hole was already dug in the barn floor. ... (One of the men) picked up a shovel and cracked Hoffa over the head with it."

Zerilli writes that Hoffa put up a fight and was hit several more times. They threw him in the hole and buried him alive.

"He wasn't shot, he wasn't stabbed, nothing like that," Zerilli said in the manuscript.

A cement slab of some sort was placed on top of the dirt to make certain he was not going to be discovered -- end of story, Zerilli said in the manuscript.

Chasnick said Zerilli was in talks with the FBI for at least seven months prior to Monday.

There has been speculation whether Zerilli gave the tips because he was struggling financially. Chasnick said this is untrue because, to purchase the manuscript costs about the same as a cup of coffee. He also reiterated that because Zerilli has been in talks with the FBI for nearly seven months, the FBI wouldn't have gone through the arduous process of getting the search warrant if they didn't think it was a credible tip.

This latest Hoffa story drew the attention from not only news media, but also residents passing by and even prosecutors with extensive organized crime knowledge.

Keith Corbett, a former federal prosecutor who has followed at least two previous Hoffa digs, said that even if Hoffa's body is found, prosecution tied to the case is remote because all five people suspected in the disappearance are dead.

He mentioned that Macomb County resident Giacomo "Black Jack" Tocco, 85, the convicted mob boss of a Detroit organized crime family, at one point purchased the property on Buell Road under a land contract. Tocco is Zerilli's first cousin. But Corbett said he does not know who owns it now.

Organized crime expert Scott Burnstein, author of "True Crime Chronicles" and an Oakland Press contributor, has studied the Hoffa case for years.

Burnstein said he was told by credible sources that although the property isn't owned by Tocco anymore, Tocco had sold the property to an acquaintance who could be friendly with Tocco and his associates.

"As a result, the FBI might have had some trouble getting access to the property -- possibly one of the reasons it could have taken several months to get out here," Burnstein said.

"There's no question that Tony Zerilli is the most well-informed person with the most access and ability to shed the most light to ever come forward," Burnstein said. "He was a very well respected and highly placed member of organized crime, both locally and nationally."

One passerby on Monday, Dan Lennon of Rochester, said that when it comes to Hoffa's disappearance, he's heard it all.

"I've heard he's in the concrete at Yankee Stadium, Giants Stadium, but really what would they do if they found him?" he said.

Hoffa disappeared from the Machus Red Fox restaurant on Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Township on July 30, 1975.

For more than 38 years, this case has brought national attention -- and Lennon grew up hearing about it.

Lennon, who owns a photo studio in downtown Lake Orion, previously worked at BCK Architecture near Telegraph and Maple roads, across the street from the last place Hoffa was seen alive. One of his friends, a woman who lived in the Rochester area, found a bone in her yard that was investigated in connection with the case.

The FBI searched for Hoffa's body at a farm in Milford in 2006, digging under a horse barn, and, more recently, under a driveway in Roseville last October. In 2003, they searched under a pool in Bay County, and in 2004, they dug up floor boards in a Detroit home where blood was found.

Speculation about the Oakland Township search has been ongoing since winter.

The search warrant was issued "based on information that we have involving the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa," said Bob Foley III, of the FBI Detroit Division. "Because this investigation is an open investigation and because the search warrant is sealed, I will not be able to provide any additional details regarding our activity here this morning."

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard has participated in several such searches through the years.

"This has been one of those open wounds for a long time," Bouchard said. "As this was spinning up and ... especially (Sunday), I was thinking about what Father's Day means to the family that doesn't have closure on this case, and families like them all over the country that have a missing loved one and didn't know what happened to them."

"It's my fondest hope that we give that closure not only to the Hoffa family, but also to the community to stop tearing that scab off with every new lead and bring some conclusion that is long overdue."

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office is handling the logistical side of the dig, and set up a mobile command center along the road. The FBI is handling the excavation.

Lines of marked and unmarked cars peppered the area -- which looks to be at least 75 square yards -- but media was restricted from coming any closer than around 100 yards from the actual dig site.

Investigators are using a back hoe among several excavation tools and have put tents around the site while they continue to search.